Volunteers filling gaps created by austerity
OUTLOOK IS BLEAK AS CUTS TO SERVICES BITE DEEP
BUDGET cuts and a surge in demand has led to the ‘perfect storm’ impacting on the voluntary sector in the region, a report has found.
Since austerity began in 2010, volunteers have had to step up to fill the gaps in services caused by Government cuts.
Both Newcastle and Gateshead Councils have seen their real-term budgets cut by around 50% since 2010, and have looked to the voluntary and community organisations to support their residents.
A report by the Newcastle Council for Voluntary Service, which covers Newcastle and Gateshead, said: “The reduction in statutory services means many people who would have been previously supported by local authorities and the NHS are now supported by the voluntary, community and social enterprise sector.”
The gap between rich and poor has become more and more apparent in recent years, voluntary organisations told the Newcastle CVS.
The report says: “There is greater expectation than ever before that charitable organisations and volunteers will ‘step up to the mark.’
“The growth of food banks, with the largest food bank in the UK in Newcastle, is an example of this.
“However, the conflict with the UK being the seventh richest nation in the world is obvious, and there is now more marked increases in inequalities within the UK.”
Worryingly, those working in the voluntary sector don’t see things improving any time soon, and the majority of those who responded to the CVS questions believed the future will get worse for many people living in the region.
The report’s author said the answers to the question ‘what issue do you think your beneficiaries will face in the next two years?’ were the saddest, and more bleak and stark than the CVS had seen before. The words poverty and poor were cited in 30 different responses.
“Death, starvation and watching their kids die,” one respondent said.
Another said the area will see an increase in poverty, homelessness and racism.
Sally Young, chief executive of the Newcastle CVS, said that the survey results this year had been the saddest she had encountered.
She said: “I have been running these surveys for eight years, and in analysing the comments, these are probably the bleakest yet.
“More organisations are noting a much greater impact on the people and communities they support.
“The stories of friendship and support are heart-lifting, but the stories of discrimination and desperation are sad.”